THREE OUT OF FOUR AMERICANS BELIEVE GOVERNMENT SHOULD BACK OFF

Washington, DC: Seventy-four percent of Americans believe that the federal government should cease interfering in states that have legalized the limited use of marijuana as a medicine, according to a nationwide Mason-Dixon poll of 1,000 likely voters.

According to the poll, 74 percent of respondents – including 67 percent of self-identified Republicans – believe that the Obama administration should “respect the medical marijuana laws” in those states that have legalized its use, cultivation, and distribution. Only 15 percent of those polled said they supported the federal government’s ongoing use of “federal resources to arrest and prosecute individuals who are acting in compliance” with the medicinal cannabis laws of their state.

In recent months, the Obama administration has taken various actions to interfere in the enactment of statewide medical marijuana laws. These efforts have included threatening state employees with federal prosecution and targeting the landlords of state-licensed cannabis dispensaries. The actions contradict a pledge Obama made in March 2008, as a Presidential candidate, when he promised to cease utilizing “Justice Department resources to try and circumvent state laws” regarding medical cannabis.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted between May 10 and May 14 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. The margin for error is ±3 percent.

Last week, members of the United States House of Representatives voted 262 to 163 to defeat a federal budget amendment that sought to prevent the federal government from spending taxpayers’ dollars to target medical marijuana-related activities that are compliant with state law. One hundred and thirty-five Democrats and 28 Republicans voted in support of the amendment.

Read the full poll here: http://www.mpp.org/assets/pdfs/download-materials/MPP-M-D-Poll-5-12.pdf.